Improvement in temporary binders



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1MM. MERRILL. TEMPORARY BINDER.

Patented Sept. 5, 1876.

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Wit/Wsw Y UNITED STATES RUFUS;M..MERRILL, OF ENGLEWOOD, ASSIGrITOltl OF ONE-HALF HIS RIGHT v PATENT OFFICE.

TO WILLIAM A. AMBERG, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

. IMPROVEMENT IN TEMPORARY BINDERS.l

f Specification `forming part of Letters Patent No. 181,796, dated September 5, 1876; application tiled July 20, 1876.

To all whom it may concern VBe it known that I, RUFUs M. MERRILL, of Englewood, in the county of Cookand State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Letter and Paper Files and Binders; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, which. will enable others skilled in the-art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the.: letters of rerference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

My improvements consist in the employment ofabinding cord or thread, combined with needles, on which the letters or papers are impaled, and a presser-bar, operating to press the letter or paper upon such threaded needles in the employment of needles having slits at their puncturin g ends reaching from the point to the eye; in combining the needles and the binding-cord with a removable needle-plate and holder; in a peculiar construction ot' the presser-bar with lever-arms, which, with their reacting-springs, are concealed in cavities cut out in the end pieces of the frame; and in other details hereinafter named.

In the drawings, Figure l is a perspective of one form of a letter-tile embodying my improvements; Fig. 2, one of the sides or end pieces of the saine, showing the cavity for the reception and movements of the arm of the presser and of the spring, the presser being down; Fig. 3, the same view, the presser being up and spring spread or uncompressed Fig. 4, an enlarged view, in elevation, of one of the eye-slitted needles, and also of one ofthe nonslitted ones; Fig. 5, a perspective of the presser attached; Fig. 6, a perspective of the needle-holder detached; Fig. 7, a cross-section through a file-holder and its contents before applying the second cover and securing the book and covers together; Fig. 8, a perspective of the book as tiled and bound, and Fig. 9 a cross-section through the needle-punctures and binding-thread.

A is the frame or case of the file; B, the presser-bar b b, its swinging or pivoted leverarms; c c, its springs; e, the cavity in the ends F, in which the lever and spring Work; G,

the removable needle-holder; h h, the end needies, with eyes near their points; i t, the remaining needles, each having a slit, j, leading from its point to its eye lo, all the needles being permanently secured to the holder'G. string or cord for' binding the books, and which is shown in Fig. 1 in the loose condition, ready for impaling a letter orpaper upon Ithe needles; M, springs or clamps, one at,

each end, under whichthe needle-holder'may be slipped and held to place; N, a handle, which maybe of any appropriate kind, on the presser-bar, and by which the same mayl be lifted, when desired, against the laction of the springs c c, which serve to restore it to place to press upon the letters placed in the file.

low it to be pressed down and over the needles.

P is a loose cover, which may be bound with.

the letters, the same being impaled upon the threaded needles before the letters are filed therein, and Q is another cover, which may be impaled on the needles when enough letters to complete a volume shall have been lcd, thus affording a cover for each side of the book.

In using this file and self-binder, the needles are rst threaded with the bindingl thread or cord, as shown in Fig. l, and which is left loose enough between the needles to permit the presser-bar B to come down upon the needle-holder G and over the threaded needles, thus leaving the thread free to lie on both sides of each needle, from its eye downward.

Upon now lifting the presser-bar above the needles, in order to file a paper, the latter is placed in position in the file with its edge against the back of the frame, and then upon relaxing the hold upon the handle of the lifted presserbar, the latter forces down the paper and impales it on the needles, and clamps it upon the holder Gr, the doubles of the thread extending up through the paper to the needleeyes. This being repeated, as each several paper is filed, until enough have been accumulated together to form a book, theremai ning loose cover may now be impaled in the same manner to complete the covering. In thiscondition the eyes of the needles project beyond the filed material, and the loose ends of the Lisa o o o are holes in the presser-bar to althread (which, if desired, may previously have been held by passing them severally under the ends of the needle-holder,) now need only` to be tied together. For this purpose the needle-holder, With the file thereon, may be slipped away from the springs M M, and the ends of the thread or cord drawn through the eyes of the non-slitted end needles. The cord is then drawn upwardy through the slits of the sltted needles, which may be of any desired number, and the ends are passed through the loops thus formed, and after being next drawn tight, they are tied together, as shown, the whole thus forming a bound volume. The needles may now be Withdrawn, as they are no longer connected, positively, with the thread. This leaves the book complete, and entirely free from the needle-bar and its needles, upon replacing which in the frame the le is again ready for the filing and binding of another set of papers,

It will be observed that the needles form no part of the completed book, but perform the same functions, above described, for all books led in the binders.

Instead of the springs M, any appropriate or equivalent device may be used which will hold down the needle-holder and admit of its ready removal. 1 Instead of the handle N projecting through vthe back of the frame, a handle may be placed directly npon the top of the presser-bar, as inl the Amberg les. patented July 6, 1869.

By dispensing with the side pieces or ends F, the device may be converted into a letter or paper clip, the presser-bar in such case being made to work by means of a spring above the back,

I claim- 1. The combination, with a letter or paper tile and binder, of a needle or needles having a slit extending from its point to its eye, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

2. In a letter file and binder, the combination of a single binding-cord with a set of eyepointed needles, one or moreof which is slitted from its puneturin g end to its eye, and with a presser-bar or its mechanical equivalent, the combination operating substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

3. A removable plate or needle holder, provided with'needles having eyes, as described, and near their points, the same being adapted to receive a binding-cord, to carry it through the filed papers, and then to be withdrawn from the papers, leaving the binding cord therein., substantially as set forth.

4. The combination, with the side pieces F, of the pivot-ed and swinging presser-bar B, provided with lever-arms b and springs c c, and operating substantially as and for the purpose described.

5. The described combination of the ile- A ease, lever presser-bar, needle-holder and nee. dles, and single binding-cord, the combination operating substantially as set forth.

. BUFUS M. MERRILL. Witnesses:

Crus. B. SNOW, J. C. CUSHMAN. 

